It’s usually not very hard to estimate the announcement, pre-order and commercial launch dates of new iPhone generations with a margin of error of no more than a week, but with rampant pre-production “panic” speculation these past couple of months, no credible source, insider or tipster dared to guess the exact fall 2017 timeline.

This is more than an educated guess, mind you, as informants on the inside have allegedly confirmed the date already. We’re not talking Apple employees… just yet, but rather regional carrier sources, though their reliability should still be rock-solid.

September 12 is a Tuesday, of course, which sounds appropriate, presumably setting the stage for a pre-order kick-off on Friday, September 15, and delivery from September 22. Then again, it’s probably safe to expect very limited iPhone 8 inventory both online and in physical stores come the next 22nd, even if this rumored timetable proves 100 percent legit.

Adrian has had an insatiable passion for writing since he was in school and found himself writing philosophical essays about the meaning of life and the differences between light and dark beer. Later, he realized this was pretty much his only marketable skill, so he first created a personal blog (in Romanian) and then discovered his true calling, which is writing about all things tech (in English).